Genre: Tejano
Don Santiago Jiménez Interview
Santiago Jiménez, Sr. learned to play accordion watching his father, Patricio Jiménez, who was the only accordion player Santiago recalls playing at dances around town in San Antonio, where he grew up. He talks to Chris Strachwitz about learning to play at age 10, and buying his first two-row accordion from a pawn shop in 1935. He would later become known for his consistent use of the two-row button accordion.
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Isidro Lopez Interview
Isidro López, “El Indio,” was born in Bishop, Texas, in 1933. He began playing tenor saxophone when he entered Miller High School in nearby Corpus Christi, an instrument he also played during the one year he attended A & I College in Kingsville.
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Balde Gonzalez Interview
Baldemar (Balde) González was born on May 30, 1928, in Beeville, Texas. Sightless since birth, he attended the school for the blind in Austin, Texas, where he learned to play piano, clarinet and saxophone.
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Tony “Ham” Guerrero Interview
Trumpet player for Little Joe y la Familia and one of the founding members of Tortilla Factory talks with Manuel Peña about “what happened to the orquesta tejana.”
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Cameron Randle Interview – Tejano
Former Vice-President and General Manager of the Texas branch of Arista Records talks with Manuel Peña about the Tejano Music Industry.
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Don Tosti Interview
Edmundo Martínez Tostado, whose stage name became Don Tosti, was born in El Paso, Texas, in 1923. He exhibited musical talent at an early age, and by his twelfth birthday he was playing violin with a local group, La Orquesta Muro.
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Tejano Musician Andres Berlanga
“I started playing guitar, I didn’t know nothing about guitar, I was hard labor man working on construction and all that then I come to think, this man can do it I guess I can do it too and I tried it and I tried it and I got on it.”
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Flaco Jimenez Interview | Tejano Music
“Naturally now you can’t stick just with polka and redova and schottisches. You have to play what’s going on in the world. Starting with polka, and a little rock-and-roll, or a little cumbia, cha-cha-cha”…”Because it’s pretty hard just to play just polka, polka, polka, polka, or just cumbia, cumbia, cumbia. You have to mix it up.”
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Audio Interviews
share: [feather_share] Luis Acosta Interviewed by Chris Strachwitz Date: May 19, 1974 Language: English Instrument maker, A&R man in San Antonio in the 1930s. Moses...
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Lydia Mendoza Photo Gallery
Lydia Mendoza Image Gallery Lydia Mendoza was the first Queen of Tejano Music, with a recording career that began in 1928 and lasted more than 60...
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